An artist’s illustration of a crewed moon base. Image credit: ESA/Foster + PartnersNewt Gingrich still has big moon dreams.The former speaker of the United States House of Representatives made headlines during his 2012 presidential run by promising to get a lunar colony up and running by 2020 if elected. And now Gingrich is trying to sell Donald Trump’s White House on a $2 billion (£1.6 billion) competition to set up a crewed outpost on Earth’s nearest neighbour, according to Politico.“The proposal, whose other proponents range from an Air Force lieutenant general to the former publicist for pop stars Michael Jackson and Prince, includes a $2 billion sweepstakes pitting billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and other space pioneers against each other to see who can establish and run the first lunar base, according to a summary of the plan shared with Politico,” Politico reported on 19 August 2019.“Backers of the novel approach have briefed administration officials serving on the National Space Council, several members of the group confirmed, though they declined to provide specifics of the internal conversations,” the outlet added.The companies run by Musk and Bezos – SpaceX and Blue Origin, respectively – would be ...